desire of the moth / grant&dolly

[calla]

G R A N T

Grant ends up speed walking through the halls, weaving in and out of knots of students despite only being about two minutes late for datenight. Hanna offered to help him with his biology project due soon and they'd sat in the library while Grant eyed the clock, leg bouncing while he tried to gently extract himself from Hanna's conversation, simultaneously balancing the want to not be late and the want to not be rude. He was mostly done the project anyways. Anatomy stuff. After Ms. Munroe got involved, Bingham was finally convinced to let Grant do an alternative assignment rather than the dissections that all students had to do at the end of the year. It doesn't matter that it's just a frog they have to do, he just kept thinking about the animals that the Deliveryman had brought, the pigeons on the school grounds, the mangy squirrel that sometimes climbs to his window and waits for food, Abel. He still doesn't know what Munroe eventually told Bingham to make it happen, but he's pretty sure that he doesn't want to know. The thought of what the teachers say about him behind closed doors almost makes him just as queasy as the thought of the dissection does. Hanna's nice though, and Grant doesn't want to seem like he doesn't care about the current song she's working on, so he sits there until she takes another breath and then jumps in, says he has to go. But he takes a little detour first. He makes his way to Dolly's room with a bottle under his shirt, his heart beating an exorbitant amount in comparison to the situation. It's not even contraband, he didn't even steal it. The ladies in the cafeteria quite like him actually, and they gave him the grape juice he asked for before he'd even gotten the whole question out. He realizes that he's being an idiot about halfway up the stairs, and then takes the bottle out to carry it normally. And he's totally normal about it by the time he gets to Dolly and their picnic. She's got the blanket spread out on the floor already, pillows propped up, fairylights set up and twinkling. He was no idea where or how she got the lights, but he's not surprised. "Sorry." He says first, a little breathless from rushing. He leans down to kiss her and shoots her a goofy smile, just the slightest bit of nerves under it. "Studying." The lights make her sparkle though, and he stands there dumbfounded for a moment before he remembers to pass her the bottle. "I brought this. Probably the closest thing we'll get to wine."

[gamemaker 💀 hades lochlan]

There was, upon opening her bedroom door and seeing Grant standing there, always some specific feeling Dolly would get, and it was like nothing else. Her cheeks would flush and her hands would long for his. She'd get so uncharacteristically unable to maintain eye contact despite wanting to look nowhere more than at the warmth of those gentle brown eyes looking back. She always felt so embarrassingly transparent, and yet had learned through years of trust that so long as it was Grant who saw her that way, she did not mind. He was practically exactly on time and still felt the need to apologize for keeping her waiting. She felt safe with him if no one else. She smiled at him, arms uncrossing from her chest and instead wrapping themselves around him while he held up the sparkling grape juice he brought as a peace offering- "It's perfect." She nuzzled herself against him and then stepped away, gesturing her arm with a flourish to the rest of the room. Every pillow and blanket in her bed and in her closet had been spread out onto the floor, with a little charcuterie board of crackers and cheese and strawberries. The lights she'd bought from the prize fair during winter break were finally up, and she was playing one of the three records she'd managed to procure during her years scouring every incentivized event for. One of the records- the one playing now- was of an artist Dolly couldn't find the name of, and it contained six tracks of sleepy, jazzy romance songs. She saved it for moments like these. Especially because it was the best option by and far: one of the other two was of President Imperiosa Ironsquall's last speech in office, and the other seemed to be a recording of some conversation, but the audio was too quiet to be heard. At least on the crusty old record player she was working with. Dolly took her seat on the floor and patted the space next to her. "What were you studying for? Anything I could help with maybe?" She assumed it was something to do with his alternative assignment in their biology unit and- "Sorry. I know, I know- tonight isn't about studying. How was Mr. Abel this afternoon?"

D O L L Y

[calla]

G R A N T

He grabs a strawberry and collapses against the cushions, absentmindedly tapping his fingers against his leg to the music. "Oh, nah, you don't have to worry about it, it was just that bio project." Besides, he knows she's got too much to worry about. Dolly doesn't need to add Grant's garbage pile of a mess on to her own well-polished one, "Hanna helped me finish." Then he keeps going, unaware. "Didn't get very much time with Abel today, actually. Pippa caught me outside and wanted to try out a new trick - something with a scarf, I couldn't follow, but she's real good. Then Hanna showed up and it was already late and I really needed to get the outline done-" He looks over at her sheepishly. The gentle warmth of the room's settled him now. It has the same effect as Dolly presence done, calming and fortifying all at once. Between Pippa's act and Hanna's tutoring, he's barely spoken all day, and it always happens like this - rushing out all at once like his body's trying to make up for the lack. He reaches over to smooth away the crease between her eyebrows. "But you'll still look over it, yeah?" Having the top student as his girlfriend was never Grant's goal, that's not what he was after no matter what people like Ignis say. Their relationship was a natural thing, and it evolved all on its own. Grant's grateful for whenever Dolly helps, but he knows how it can look from the outside. He doesn't want people to think he's taking advantage of her, he doesn't want them to think that she's doing everything for him. He's not incapable. He does his own work and his own assignments, and he's proud of that. Even if his grades aren't as high as they would have been with Dolly's input, he's still proud of them too. He takes another strawberry, offering it to her this time. "Did you do anything interesting today?"

[gamemaker 💀 hades lochlan]

For the record, she trusted Grant. The rigid reaction that came with the mention of Hanna's name had nothing to do with her trust in him, but the reaction did come whether she wanted it to or not: a flush of the cheeks and a setting of teeth on edge. Why Hanna was so intent on playing these games, on doing whatever she could to hurt Dolly, she couldn't know. Dolly couldn't recall any particular moment or confrontation which would've warranted the silent war being waged between the two of them, nor did she have any interest in participating. If Hanna's goal was to hurt Dolly, she was succeeding. But not by convincing her that her boyfriend might cheat. Dolly had enough faith in Grant to know better. But it did still hurt that Hanna wanted Dolly to think such awful things. "Of course I will." She blinked through it, not interested in allowing Hanna to ruin what little alone time she would be getting with Grant today. "I'm half-convinced Pippa's some kind of witch with actual powers," she said with a light smile. Too many times, Dolly noticed the girl sitting in chairs she swore had been empty moments before, or popping up right behind someone without having made a single sound before. Once, Dolly even saw Pippa coming out of a bathroom stall despite being certain she'd been the first out of class when the bell rang. "Both her and Novah." For obvious reasons. Grant crashed next to her and held out a strawberry. She pressed it to her lips. He took up most of the space, which was fine because it just gave her more of an excuse to eventually lay her head in his lap. For now she stayed put, her legs bent off to one side in a corner, separated from him by the spread of food. The lights twinkled above and she felt glad again that she'd chosen them as her reward over the book about aeroponics. Any knowledge she needed to know about raising plants could be ascertained from Lovie, and these lights were making this feel much more romantic than it already would've been. "I went to the library and studied for a bit, and then Xenia and I went for a jog. After that I came back here to finish proofreading some slides from my presentation before I set everything up for you to get here!" She sat back up to meet his eyes with her own. "So, I guess my answer is: not yet." She smiled, knowingly.

D O L L Y